Deal of the week: SAM Labs

This week, our deal of the last 7 days goes to Internet of Things development kit designers SAM Labs.

What do they do?

London-based SAM Labs was co-founded by engineers from Imperial College London, and designers from the Royal College of Art. The startup is on a ‘mission to give everyone the tools and skills to build and shape the future of the Internet of Things’. 

SAM Labs kits enable users to learn the basic premises of Internet of Things technology, as well as learning how to code by creating games, music, products, and apps. Back in 2014, the company completed a £125k raise via Kickstarter.

“I wanted to find a way to make it fun for people to learn circuitry and coding”, says founder Joachim Horn, “We hope to be the start of a democratic revolution for the Internet of Things so that children can learn and that impactful, highly technologically innovative projects can be undertaken by designers who do not necessarily have the luxury of having been technically trained as engineers”. 

Key players:

 1.) Joachim Horn, Founder

 2.) Cyrille Deschamp, COO

How much did they raise? 

SAM Labs secured £3.25m venture-stage equity investment. The company parted with a 36.9% stake, achieving a £8.8m valuation.  

Who funded? 

Imperial Innovations

Which companies are they up against? 

Kano Computing

Hackney-based Kano Computing have developed a ‘computer and coding kit for all ages’. Headed-up by Yonatan Raz-Friedman, the company has attracted backing from Innocent drink’s VC arm JamJar Investments. 

This time last year, the company secured over £10m equity investment from a cohort of investors in a round led by Index Ventures. Kano parted with a 28.3% stake at a post-money valuation of £35.5m. 

PI–TOP

Tower Hamlets-based PI-TOP are effectively a Kano spin-off. The company has incorporated Kano’s Raspberry Pi computer kit into a  ‘do-it-yourself Raspberry Pi powered laptop building kit’. The kit allows users to learn how to code, make hardware, and 3D print. 

 In January last year, PI-TOP secured a £25k equity injection from the Emerge Eduction accelerator programme. 

Finding exciting deals like this is easy with Beauhurst. Click the image below to see it in action.